You are now unable to buy a plane ticket in Russia.
Biggest fear among the people is: who is going to be mobilized, and when? Are the borders gonna close?
One-way flights out of Russia were rocketing in price and selling out fast on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000 reservists.
www.reuters.com
Read a comment from a Russian dude, apparently all flights have been sold out, not blocked. Borders are also still open. There are plenty of Telegram channels that advise which passings are still available to people.
I imagine this won't last long, though... AFAIK, while they called it a "partial mobilization", the exact wording means that they call upon every person with military training. But, since there is a required 1 year service for every adult male in Russia, it basically means that every capable adult male in Russia is eligible for deployment. And I can see almost every capable adult male in Russia wanting to gtfo asap.
Limiting factor is, and remains, the Russian army's supply chain. You can draft a million unwilling souls, but if you can't give them a gun or get them where you want them, they ain't gonna be effective. And that supply chain has been struggling since day one. Turns out that deep seated corruption has a negative effect on the workings of a massive system, who knew?
My guess? Putin is gambling on Ukraine's defenses being strained by manpower. Even with NATO's backing and armaments, if they can muster up, say, 500k underequipped soldiers while Ukraine can only respond with 50k, it's a bloody calculation in favor of Russia.
That's my guess, anyway. Don't take it for granted - I'm just an idiot armchair general who sees some bits of news and makes asinine assumptions.
Who knows, maybe this draft will make the Russian population finally rise up and Putin will be dead before winter comes, which ends the war, stops the major energy crisis, and everyone can live happily ever after.
www.newsweek.com
www.ibtimes.sg
www.businessinsider.com
